Buzz Kross answering final questions from CAD journalists:
What's happening with Fusion stand-alone?
We have plans but not ready to disclose yet. Not even Carl Bass has been told.
When will Autodesk land its first powertrain customer?
It will come eventually; powertrain designers are looking for more than just design, and Autodesk Mech is looking to provide that.
How will cloud change things?
Cloud is making Autodesk dealers a bit nervous; there still a need to sell and support, but there is a bit of a question of payment.
Whatever happened to sustainability?
There is a lot to talk about it, so it was not part of today. No plan to have a stand-alone product. Will be making an announcement is a few weeks time.
What about support for hardware?
Working with GPU makers to take advantage of processing features in graphics boards. Not specific to nVidia or AMD/ATi.
Since ALGOR is a growth area, how do you guard against untrained drafters from using analysis through ignorance?
Through the simulation guide, hand-holding drafters. The guidance we are going to give more and more information on what is possible and not in the future. Second, we will eliminate geeks-speak to make it easier to anyone to use. Try and get customers to ask for expert help.
Is there any pushback from customers against making CAD software too easy to use?
No, quite the opposite. Need for specialist will not go away, and they can work on more "value-add." I think we have a long way to go before we are too easy to use.
In the last few quarters (before Autodesk stopped reporting unit sales), SolidWorks was kicking Inventor's butt.
Inventor is stronger in Europe and Asia, while SolidWorks is stronger in USA. Also, both products have their strengths and weaknesses that differ, which gives each different sales. We have the problem of being known as the "AutoCAD company." I don't think SolidWorks can touch us; our commercial installed base is about the same. We also fight with Catia, which Dassault finds insulting.
It's been confusing to customers to say AutoCAD is "2D" [even though it was 3D] and then for Autodesk to say is is now 3D.
It is confusing, unfortunately.
We are a whole lot more holistic, such as including sketching, which others don't do. But then we refuse to do PLM, because we see no need for it.
[New term: "point tool" -- software used for niche applications.]
Will there be a Mac version of Inventor?
That is an interesting idea. 20% of our programmers use Macs. I am not going to announce anything here, but the Mac is important -- so is the Web.
What's happening with Fusion stand-alone?
We have plans but not ready to disclose yet. Not even Carl Bass has been told.
When will Autodesk land its first powertrain customer?
It will come eventually; powertrain designers are looking for more than just design, and Autodesk Mech is looking to provide that.
How will cloud change things?
Cloud is making Autodesk dealers a bit nervous; there still a need to sell and support, but there is a bit of a question of payment.
Whatever happened to sustainability?
There is a lot to talk about it, so it was not part of today. No plan to have a stand-alone product. Will be making an announcement is a few weeks time.
What about support for hardware?
Working with GPU makers to take advantage of processing features in graphics boards. Not specific to nVidia or AMD/ATi.
Since ALGOR is a growth area, how do you guard against untrained drafters from using analysis through ignorance?
Through the simulation guide, hand-holding drafters. The guidance we are going to give more and more information on what is possible and not in the future. Second, we will eliminate geeks-speak to make it easier to anyone to use. Try and get customers to ask for expert help.
Is there any pushback from customers against making CAD software too easy to use?
No, quite the opposite. Need for specialist will not go away, and they can work on more "value-add." I think we have a long way to go before we are too easy to use.
In the last few quarters (before Autodesk stopped reporting unit sales), SolidWorks was kicking Inventor's butt.
Inventor is stronger in Europe and Asia, while SolidWorks is stronger in USA. Also, both products have their strengths and weaknesses that differ, which gives each different sales. We have the problem of being known as the "AutoCAD company." I don't think SolidWorks can touch us; our commercial installed base is about the same. We also fight with Catia, which Dassault finds insulting.
It's been confusing to customers to say AutoCAD is "2D" [even though it was 3D] and then for Autodesk to say is is now 3D.
It is confusing, unfortunately.
We are a whole lot more holistic, such as including sketching, which others don't do. But then we refuse to do PLM, because we see no need for it.
[New term: "point tool" -- software used for niche applications.]
Will there be a Mac version of Inventor?
That is an interesting idea. 20% of our programmers use Macs. I am not going to announce anything here, but the Mac is important -- so is the Web.
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